Last night’s loss by the Toronto Maple Leafs to the Boston Bruins set social networks ablaze for a variety of reasons.
Whether it was the words of the Leafs’ stars on the bench, or Sheldon Keefe’s comments after the game, everything is being picked up and analyzed this morning to talk about another Toronto playoff collapse.
We’ve all come to expect big changes from the Leafs over the years, but will this be the last straw?
Personally, I really believe that losing to the Montreal Canadiens in the first round in 2021 after leading the series 3-1 should have been a huge wake-up call.
But no, here we are again, laughing at the same Maple Leafs with the same core three years later.
This season marks the eighth year in a row that the Toronto Maple Leafs have qualified for the playoffs, and in eight years, they’ve only won one series.
What’s even crazier, and really should be another huge red flag, is that in the last five years, the Montreal Canadiens have more playoff wins than the Maple Leafs.
And yet, the Habs have only made the playoffs twice in the last five years.
14 wins in 34 playoff games for the Leafs and 18 wins in 32 games for the Canadiens.
0.41 winning percentage for the Leafs and 0.56 for the Tricolore.
We could even add another full year and therefore another playoff appearance for the Maple Leafs, namely 2019, and the Habs would still have more wins, given that the Leafs lost in seven games to the Boston Bruins that year.
So we’d add just three wins, making them 17 in the last six years versus 18 for the Habs.
It’s crazy to think that a rebuilding team has more playoff wins than a team that’s been a Stanley Cup contender for years.
It just goes to show that the Leafs’ core is simply never going to win and needs to be dismantled.
This first-round loss to the Boston Bruins (because yes, if all goes well, the Leafs will lose a fourth game in this series) has to be the trigger for a huge shake-up both behind the bench and in the dressing room.
Just imagine if the Montreal Canadiens became competitive and Stanley Cup contenders again before the Maple Leafs did any damage in the playoffs…
It would be a monumental embarrassment for the entire city of Toronto.
The Habs might even end up playing the Leafs in the first round soon, and imagine if the Habs won.
In short, the Maple Leafs haven’t had any playoff success, and haven’t for far too long, as evidenced by this statistic involving the Habs’ playoff success.
In a gust
– Ouch.
– An excellent Bruins playoff power play.
– Just for fun – why not?
– What’s on today.
– Indeed.
More must-reads: